Correct aspect ratio option?

[masterotaku]

(01-12-2016, 11:33 PM)phire Wrote: But probably the best option is to allow for a per-game custom aspect ratio option, which would avoid any heuristic issues with SmartAR (ideally we could include the display of the current SmartAR guess and the user can lock it in) It would also allow the user to select absolutely any aspect ratio, if they decide there is a good reason for another aspect ratio.

I vote for this, so I don't have to create custom resolutions to check ultra wide resolutions. And like you said, I'd like to know the exact aspect ratio the game is automatically using, instead of having to take screenshots and measure the size (for the weird aspect ratio mods that I've abandoned for now ).

And if someone somehow discovers that X game actually should have Y aspect ratio instead of Z discovered by SmartAR, we would be able to force it just for that game.

The ultimate widescreen hack would be making games fill the remaining horizontal space with more game content without stretching the HUD. But this is more complicated (it's what I did with 3Dmigoto (some shaders needed correction while others not), but I'd prefer to do it without external tools). With the other additions, it would require an additional option for more customization, maybe. Like "original aspect ratio" (the option you proposed) and "target filled aspect ratio". The result would be something like "the aspect ratio for this game is 3.6:3, the target is 21:9 letterboxed to the monitor resolution".

[eckso]

(01-12-2016, 11:33 PM)phire Wrote: I'm only arguing against a global "1:1 PAR" checkbox in the graphics options.

But probably the best option is to allow for a per-game custom aspect ratio option, which would avoid any heuristic issues with SmartAR (ideally we could include the display of the current SmartAR guess and the user can lock it in) It would also allow the user to select absolutely any aspect ratio, if they decide there is a good reason for another aspect ratio.

I vote for this too. SmartAR can be used as a smart guideline to input custom PAR. I don't mean to remove the current system and force everybody to set ratios, but as an add-up to allow manual setup for the conflicting titles.

I want to stress that I never proposed a 1:1 PAR checkbox, while I used the term checkbox, what I meant is a PAR float input box, so random values can be used on a per-game basis, because as I said, you are never going to find a magical number that fixes all games, as an example I want to quote some of your words: "large number of NTSC games...", "PAR ~4.5", "most TVs crop approx...", loose concepts that add up to final ratio deviation.
I like to compare this to the StereoConvergence parameter. You are hardly going to find a matching value between two games, so trying to find a magical number (as the previously proposed "stereo presets" PR) is a moot attempt. Personally I'd like to bring this endless talk about ratios to an end, a topic that always comes back and fills pages and pages with no conclusion, so time can be better spent on other fronts.

[Aleron Ives]

Even if such a hackish feature were added, it would surely need to be relegated to the game ini system and not exposed in the UI, as such prominent placement would lead to tons of "My game looks weird" reports from people who fiddled with that setting without knowing what it did.

[eckso]

@Aleron Ives: fair enough. SmartAR hinted values should be visible on on-screen log. The only current drawback that could hinder this PR to prosper is that the SmartAR feature isn't yet finished. So it's up to that... or add PAR feature in advance.
EDIT: To note, a PAR parameter is not less "hackish" than current approach --> "Force 4:3", results far from being 4:3... DAR? PAR? The help text just says "aspect ratio"... as if written by someone who is not familiarized yet with the terms. There's a lot of room to improvement and tight loose ends.